Cutout device for telephone transmitters



y 1946- G. E. BRITTINGHAM I CUT-OUT DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE TRANSMITTERS Filed Juli/25, 1944 Patented July 9, 1946 CUTOUT DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE TRANSMITTERS Gerald E. Erittingham, Ontario, Oreg.

Appiication July 25, 1944, Serial No. 546,480

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved cut-out device for telephone transmitters and has for its primary object to provide simple and effective means whereby a subscriber using the telephone may temporarily out out or disconnect the telephone transmitter from its circuit when he desires to prevent the party with whom he has the telephone connection from hearing noises or conversation in the room or other place while the subscriber is not talking into the transmitter.

It is also an important object of the invention to provide a simple, inexpensive, and reliable device for the above purpose which can be readily applied to the telephone transmitter, and Which is especially adapted to be applied to the French or hand type of telephone instrument, so that when the instrument is laid down on either side on a table or other surface the transmitter circuit will thereby be cut out. a

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described and shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown only for illustration.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a French or hand type of telephone instrument, showing the transmitter portion, with the cutout device applied thereto;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 22 of Figure 1 and showing details of the switch;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the transmitter, with diaphragm removed, and partly in section to show the arrangement of the switches; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective of one of the switch arms and its contact bridge.

Referring to the drawing, the French or hand type telephone instrument 5 includes the handpiece 5 terminating at one end in the generally cylindrical transmitter housing 1 which is disposed at a convenient angle to the handpiece 6, and includes the removable annulus 8 which when in place retains the diaphragm 9 relative to the magnet to, whose coil H has one side connected with the transmitter circuit wire I2 and the other side with the transmitter circuit wire i3, both wires passing together through a grommet equipped opening M in the bottom of the transmitter housing, as shown.

Each of two diametrically opposite sides of the wall of the transmitter housing is formed with a slot [5, in one end of which is fixed a pivot pin IE on which is hinged the smaller end of the triangular switch element H, with its hypotenuse side disposed inwardly and its exposed corner l8 preferably rounded.

At the end of the hypotenuse side of the switch element is a dielectric or insulated cross head 19, on the outer side of which is secured a contact bridging member 20 by suitable means such as screws 2!. The switch element ll as a whole may be made of dielectric material including the crosshead l9 or of conductive material with suitable provision for insulating the bridging member from the switch element and from the transmitter housing.

In Figure 2, the crosshead I9 is shown positioned within the transmitter housing beyond the outer end of the slot l5 and toward the diaphragm end of the housing, in conformance with the pivoting of the switch element at the inner end of the slot. However, an opposite arrangement can obviously be made in which the switch element is pivoted at the outer end of the slot [5 and its crossheads bridging element engages appropriately positioned contacts.

The contacts 22 and 23, and 22' and 23' in the illustrated arrangement are suitably mounted in the inner side of the transmitter housing wall, on opposite sides of the medium plane of swing of the switch element, and are preferably at least partly embedded or countersunk in the wall, in a position to be simultaneously and positively engaged by the bridging element 20 of the corresponding switch element as it is moved inwardly through the slot I5 against the outwardly pressing tension of a suitable spring, such as the coil spring 24 backed up by a suitable abutment 25 provided in the transmitter housing, and which normally keeps the switch element pressed outwardly as indicated in the upper part of Figure 3, in which position the bridging member 21] is in engagement with the contacts 22' and 23 and the normal transmitter circuit obtains.

One of the contacts 22 has the transmitter circuit wire I3 connected directly to it, as shown in Figure 3, while the remaining transmitter circuit Wire I2 is connected to one side of the magnet coil II and the other side of the coil is connected by the wire 26 directly to the contact 23. The contacts 22' and 23 are connected together by a wire 21. As a result, whenever the telephone instrument is laid down on either side on a supporting surface as shown in Figure 3, the corresponding switch element will be pushed inwardly and open the transmitter circuit.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a telephone instrument having a transmitter of a type adapted to be temporarily laid on a supporting surface when in use, a transmitter housing either side of which is adapted to rest on said surface when so laid thereon, a transmitter circuit within said housing, and a switch comprising a pair of switch contacts mounted within the housing and connected in said circuit and an outwardly projecting spring pressed switch element having a bridging member, normally electrically bridging, said contacts, said switch element being pivotally mounted to project through an opening formed in one side of said housing sufficiently to engage said supporting surface when the transmitter is laid on its side thereon and be thereby pressed far enough inwardly to disengage said bridging element from the contacts and open the transmitter circuit until the transmitter is raised from the supporting surface.

2. A telephone instrument, as in claim 1, wherein said switch element comprises a block having at one end a crosshead carrying said bridging member with the opposite end of the block pivoted in said opening.

3. A telephone instrument as, in claim 1, wherein said switch element comprises a block and said opening comprises a slot conformably passing the block with a pivot pin traversing one end of the slot and pivotally supporting the corresponding end of the block, another portion of the block having a crosshead within the housing and carrying said bridging member.

GERALD E. BRITTINGHAM. 

